


Lost in Translation

by 00497



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Keith is Vietnamese, M/M, Slow Burn, background shallura - Freeform, hunk is indian, lance is filipino, like really slow burn, pidge is nonbinary and irish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7952221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00497/pseuds/00497
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Is that a problem? Me staying here for the third time in a row? And why Lance of ALL people?" Keith frowned, raising his eyebrow on them.</p><p>“Yes, it is a problem, A “different” air with Lance might change your relationship with him.”</p><p>“But, this is LANCE we’re dealing with, Pidge. Did you for-” “Yeah, yeah. Polar opposite. Self-proclaimed frenemy. But, you never know! This trip might be the key to you two becoming, you know, better friends rather than fighting every time you meet.”</p><p>In which Keith joins Lance back to the Philippines for the summer break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this story will have a very inconsistent schedule, seeing as i am in the middle of school but i will try my best to update at least twice a month?? if fate and destiny is kind and school isn't constantly dumping work on me. otherwise, enjoy!

It was 9:07 am, and someone was banging on Keith's door.

It was a pleasant morning, the room wasn't baking him alive, nor was it freezing him to death. The morning sun was peeking through the binds that gave the room a orange tint. French music was softly playing from the speakers on top of Keith's desk, but the pounding on the door was disrupting the relaxing music.

The night before was the last day of his junior year in college, and Keith was knocked the hell out from staying up late playing Fallout 4 and drinking Red Bull. He was definitely _not_ in the mood for socializing, or getting out of bed.

"Keith, open this door right now." a husky voice shouted from the other side of the room.

He tried to cover his ears with his pillows, which worked for a while, until the banging started again.

"Shiro, go away."

"You know, I won't stop until you let me in."

"It's 9:07, and if you're gonna come and talk to me about Lance, I will kick your ass out of here."

Silence takes over for about 5 minutes until Shiro starts pounding the door again.

"Jesus, fine! You'll break down my door if you keep doing that." Keith threw himself out of bed, dodging the bottles of Red Bull and Dr. Pepper cans around the floor.

After unlocking the door, Keith walked over to pick up the bottles scattered around and throw them in a garbage bag by the corner, as Shiro is very particular about mess.

"You still play that old French playlist I linked to you ages ago?" Shiro walks over and observes the stereo. "It helps me sleep, and wind down."

"So, what do you want?" Keith plopped down onto his bed, looking up to the taller figure lurking over his desk.

"Keith, why don't you want to go with Lance back to his hometown?" Shiro began, which was met with a frustrated groan.

"Dude, I told you that if you're gonna talk about Lance this early in the morning, I will kick your ass out of this room."

"It's not that early, you know." Shiro points to the digital alarm clock beside the stereo. 9:17 am, Keith glares at Shiro. "That is early."

"Pidge, Hunk, and I are going to have to talk to you during lunch about this, as this is apparently "too early" for you." Shiro stood up and left Keith to his own devices.

And Keith knew that he couldn't skip out on that lunch.

He fell back to his bed and groaned. The pleasant atmosphere in his room disappeared after that, which annoyed him.

\--

_12:44 pm_

Keith took the time to fix his room a bit before leaving his dorm room, prolonging his trip to the academy's cafeteria as much as possible. The others have been trying to force - or as Shiro would put it, convince- Keith to join Lance back to the Philippines even before summer break began.

And Keith isn't having fun declining _every. goddamn. time_ they ask.

So, he just simply decided to go over to the cafeteria to get this ordeal over with.

He arrives shortly inside the cafeteria, and was pulled towards the table near the food stall by Pidge, who was waiting by the entrance of the cafeteria.

"Look, Pidge." Keith sat down across the bespectacled redhead. "I'll be fine here." Pidge groans and rubs their forehead.

"You've been saying that since freshman year, you ought to get out of the campus for the summer at least." they reason out.

"I'll be going back to my parent's place, Hunk will be bringing Shiro and Allura back in India, and Lance is going back to the Philippines. You're the only one staying here."

"Is that a problem? Me staying here for the third time in a row? And why Lance of ALL people?" Keith frowned, raising his eyebrow on them.

“Yes, it is a problem, A “different” air with Lance might change your relationship with him.”

“But, this is LANCE we’re dealing with, Pidge. Did you for-” “Yeah, yeah. Polar opposite. Self-proclaimed frenemy. But, you never know! This trip might be the key to you two becoming, you know, better friends rather than fighting every time you meet.”

Pidge’s phone began to vibrate, along with Keith’s phone.

**Message from Eagle 1 in The Rumor Come Out: dude what he sya**

**Message from Eagle 1 in The Rumor Come Out: oh sHIT**

**Message from Eagle 1 in The Rumor Come Out: fucK worong chat fuckfckfc**

“He told you to do this?” Keith narrowed his eyes at Pidge. “More or less.”

**“The Rumor Come Out”**

**Eagle 1** (Lance del Rosario) : fucK worong chat fuckfckfc

 **If I had to choose a man** (Pidge Holt) : dude keith found out

 **Eagle 2** (Giang Keith Nguyen): Bad mistake

 **Currently doing that** (Shirogane Takashi) : Are you all there already?

 **If I had to to choose a man** (Pidge Holt) : only me and keith

 **Currently doing that** (Shirogane Takashi) : Hunk and I are by the entrance of the cafe. 

Pidge scrambled out of their seat and power walked to the entrance once more, leaving Keith by the table.

Keith sees Shiro and Hunk holding takeouts from Papa Johns, and he realizes that he hasn’t eaten lunch. 

“Shiro, he isn’t budging. He still wants to stay here.” Pidge reports, looking over to Keith’s annoyed face. Shiro sits beside Keith while Hunk scurries over beside Pidge.

“Keith, you have to. Lance already bought two tickets.” Hunk bites off a piece of the cheese pizza with the takeout.

“What? He did w--”

Shiro unlocks his phone and shows the screenshot Lance sent him. A picture of a receipt of an airline ticket purchase. This made Keith want to bash his head on the table.

“Why did he buy two? That idiot.” Keith swiped away from the picture to reveal a small conversation between Shiro and Lance.

\--

 **Lancelot** , at 12:29: dudeeee here mayebth is will ocnvince him

[ **Lancelot** sends a picture]

 **Shirogayne,** at 12:30: Why did you buy two?

 **Shirogayne** , at 12:30: Also, *convince and *maybe this

 **Lancelot** , at 12:30: WHATEVER DUDE JUST DHOW KEITH THAT DIMB ARILINE RECEIPT I GOTTA GO TO CONSULTATION ILL TRY TO CATCH UP

 **Lancelot** , at 12:31: alSO for the record mama said that it was a promo by tis airline

 **Lancelot** , at 12:31: anD I DDINT BUY IT IT WAS MAM A WHO BOUGHT IT

 **Shirogayne,** at 12:31: *show, *dumb, *airline, *didn’t

 **Lancelot** , at 12:32: STOP CORRECTING ME

\--

“So, yeah. Lance’s mom bought it for him. Can’t imagine you declining after that.” Shiro took the phone from a sulking Keith, whose arms were covering his face.

“Why did his mom have to buy two?” Keith groaned, rubbing his face, wanting to peel it off from the frustration he was feeling.

“Lance called us before we headed here and said that his sister pitched the idea to his mom, saying maybe he’d be more thrilled to go around the country rather than staying at home all the time.” Hunk answered, patting Keith’s head.

“And _I’m_ the one you all picked? So, you planned your summer plans in advance so that _I_ ended up with Lance going back to the Philippines?” Keith narrowed his eyes and glared at the three, which was met with uncomfortable laughing and coughing.

“It’s not like I wanted to invite you.” a voice popped up from behind Keith, heaving really heavily. Lo, and behold, it was Lance del Rosario, trying to catch a breath from running.

“You’re. going with. me no matter. what.”

Keith put on a sour face after Lance sputtering out those words, which made Hunk say, “Dude, just be grateful. You’re going somewhere, free of charge.”

“But, I didn’t want to go!” Keith flailed his arms at Hunk. “I literally just wanted to stay here and play Fallout and--”

“Keith.”

Shiro spoke up, with Pidge’s advice. “This is a good opportunity for you to get good pictures for your photography side class. Didn’t you complain about how the teacher was pestering you for a photo to submit in a contest?”

“Yeah, he’s been pestering me since he announced it, apparently he thought I had a good eye in nature landscapes.” Keith rested his chin on his palm, thinking about school dampened his already sour mood.

“The Philippines is filled with great spots, your teacher might be impressed with your work.” Shiro added and gave Keith a “just-accept-the-trip” look behind Lance, which made Keith frown a bit.

Finally, Keith stood up and faced Lance. “Okay, I’ll accept your goddamn trip, but just because I needed those pictures for my class. Nothing more, nothing less.” He saw that Lance wasn’t also eager to have him around his family. “Deal.”

“This is the first and last time I’m going anywhere with you that’s not inside campus.” Keith made sure this point got across to the boy in front of him.

“Fine by me, you dick.” Lance hissed before he storms off to his dorm room.

“Keith, let me send you the details on the trip.” Shiro pulls Keith back to his seat. “You’ll be leaving in two days so, you have to pack up.”

Pidge and Hunk shortly left the group, saying that they had this group work to complete before graduation, leaving Shiro and Keith alone.

“You pulled the “photography class” excuse out of your ass, didn’t you.” Keith glared at Shiro, who was silently laughing behind his hand. “Not really, Pidge told me to tell you, and it worked.”

“You and Lance should spend time together. Maybe it’ll make your relationship better?” Shiro shrugged before standing up and flinging his bag across his shoulder. “Well, if it turns out to be a complete flop, that would be quite a story to tell the group, wouldn’t it?”

Well, Keith knew deep down that it was bound to be a flop.

\--

“Dude, hurry up. Shiro’s waiting downstairs.”

Keith walked into a very messy dorm room, clothes were scattered everywhere, the dirty clothes mixed with the slightly used ones around a room with a wooden, double-deck bed and two cabinets with a small bathroom by the corner.

“And can you clean up your room? It’s a fucking mess.” Lance turned around to face Keith struggling to traverse the room. “Wow, shit you’re right, Captain Fucking Obvious. I know my room’s a mess.” he waved his hands to taunt Keith who was a few meters away from him.

“And,” Lance points at a small red suitcase by the entrance. “Is that _all_ your bringing?”

“It’s called light packing.” “It’s called not packing enough.”

Keith rubbed his forehead, slightly regretting his decision to join.

“Okay, whatever. Just hurry the fuck up.”

Lance shortly went back to packing, but not without a quick taunt of sticking his tongue out.

Keith began traversing back to the entrance, dodging any dirty underwear Lance may have been leaving behind.

“Oh, by the way. I take window seat in the plane.”

And then he firmly shuts the door on Lance, which was followed with his rapid footsteps to the entrance and him shouting, “Fuck you, Keith!”

A few minutes later, Lance exits his room and sprints with his stuff downstairs to where Shiro, Keith, and Pidge were waiting.

“Why are they here?” Lance asks, upon arriving to the white van.

“Shiro gets terribly lost in the freeway, so he asked me if I could act as his personal GPS to the airport.” Pidge pushed their glasses up the bridge of their nose, clearly proud of themselves.

Shiro helps load Lance’s big luggage at the back while Keith takes the right side of the back seat, annoyed that Pidge is exercising their privilege being in shotgun.

Once everyone was ready, Lance threw himself to the left side of the back seat, bordering his space with his gray and blue backpack leaning against Keith’s black backpack. Pidge opens their small laptop and begins typing furiously and Shiro adjusts the rear-view mirror, looking at both Keith and Lance at the back.

“Seatbelts, guys.”

And they were off.

Once they hit freeway, Lance and Pidge were busy arguing about modified true or false in a multiple choice test.

“But, ultimately Lance.” Pidge glares at Lance by the rear-view mirror. “It’s still a multiple choice test.”

“Well, I mean the whole “Odd man Out” test type is also multiple choice but, you don’t condone it as such.” Lance trying to sound like a smartass to Pidge was so amusing to Keith, that he was videotaping it so that he could send it to Hunk later on.

“Stop recording my shame, Keith!” Lance places the back of his hand on his forehead and pretended to be in great pain and shame, which prompted Keith to stop taping.

“Works every time.” Lance flashed his ever-famous shit eating grin.

“Turn left, and you’ll be on the freeway going to the San Francisco Airport.” Pidge guided, not looking at the clueless Shiro beside them.

“Hey, you two.” Shiro glances over to the two bickering teenagers in the back seats, too into their petty argument that they weren’t paying attention to him.

“Come back in one piece, okay?”

After plenty of arguing over the aux cord, several stops around Mcdonald’s drive thru, and periods of silence and snoring, they arrived at the San Francisco Airport, having 2 hours to spare before Keith and Lance’s flight.

While Lance and Shiro were busy unloading, Pidge nudged Keith’s side.

“Keep it PG there.”

Which earned a good glare from Keith. Once the two had their luggage taken and boarding passes given, Shiro and Pidge said their goodbyes and parted away from the two.   
And thus starts a 16-hour ordeal for both Lance del Rosario and Giang Keith Nguyen.

\--

_10:17 pm_

Waiting for a flight can be the most grueling part of a trip. Ever since Keith made sure that he was only with Lance because of his photography class, he’s been leaving him alone to take pictures of planes landing and soaring.

Which leaves Lance extremely bored out of his mind.

It’s been 40 minutes since Shiro and Pidge left the two and Lance made a dumb mistake of leaving his fully-charged 3DS in his blue suitcase that’s with the airline staff, and he knew that Keith isn’t gonna make any effort talking to him.

The two were sitting in metal chairs near their boarding gate, Keith was busy scrolling through the pictures he has taken, and Lance was uncomfortably playing with his thumb.

“So.” “Don’t even try.”

Shot down, for the 3rd time. Lance was losing hope. He needed to pick it up _fast_.

“Keith, at least talk to me.” he pretend-begs, which doesn’t phase the other one at all.

“Keeeith.”

“Keeeeeeeith.”

“What the hell do you want.” Keith doesn’t look away from his Canon Eos 1100D, because he knows that if he does look away, he will be sucked into a loop of unending bickering with the boy beside him.

“Please talk to me?” he says with fake sweetness. “No. None with that tone.”

“Oh, so you want.” Lance coughs a bit. “Keith Nguyen. Engage in conversation. with Lance del Ro-” he says with a robotic tone before being cut off.

“Stop. Stop. Stop.” He closes his eyes to show disdain with what Lance was trying to do to get his attention. “Your attempts are pitiful, might as well give up.”

“Well, I seem to have accomplished my goal in talking to you, now didn’t I?” And that’s when Keith knew that he fell into a dumb loop he was trying to foresee.

“Whatever, dumbass.” Keith stood up and left Lance, once again, to wallow in self-pity.

Keith’s phone began to vibrate, causing him to lose focus of the shot he was taking.

“Fucking, who is it?” he grabbed his phone and saw one new message from Shiro.

 **Shiro** , at 10:21 pm: Have fun! Take care of Lance for me.

 **Keith** , at 10:21 pm: We will dont worry

 **Shiro** , at 10:21 pm: Make sure you two don’t fight and bicker that much, especially on the plane.

 **Keith** , at 10:22 pm: Well try not to cause havoc there

 **Shiro** , at 10:22 pm: *We’ll.

“Grammar police much, Shiro?” Keith whispered to himself whilst shoving the phone down his pocket to resume the shot when Lance lunged and once more, Keith lost focus of his shot.

“You wanna grab some dinner before we fly?” Lance smiled ever so sweetly, Keith could feel cavities forming in his mouth. “Fuck off.”

Before Keith could protest, Lance grabbed his hand and dragged him to a small cafeteria filled with people buying packed dinner.

“Lance, I told you I don’t want to eat!”

“I’ll buy you your food! Just eat with me.”

So, Keith found himself sitting across Lance, eating airplane tonkatsu and cold salad with Dr. Pepper and Red Bull.

_10:59 pm_

Lance passed out after that unsatisfactory dinner beside his backpack while Keith waits for their flight number to be called. He finished filtering and deleting pictures from his camera for his photography class.

Among his pictures are candid shots of Lance and he, although in denial, thinks he is a natural model.

Past the photos he took today were candid photos of his friends. Allura, Shiro, Pidge, Hunk.

Mostly Allura and Shiro, due to him spending most of his time with them, and they’re actually wonderful models.

He got even farther, and saw his old clean-cut days. The days where he actually cared about trimming his hair and the days where Shiro hasn’t dyed his tuft of hair white. It was weird, those days were a blur in his head. Pidge, Hunk and Lance hasn’t transferred over to their college and life was easier with just Shiro by his side.

He then realizes that Shiro’s been busier than ever, and the time he has to spend with the group is his time with mostly Allura.

Keith doesn’t mind, he thinks Shiro and Allura look good together. A power couple, as it were.

But, it wouldn’t hurt to go back to when it was just the two of them, right?

_“Flight 09WJC, San Francisco to Manila, boarding passengers now. Please go to their assigned desk.”_

Keith turned off his camera and slammed his neck pillow onto Lance, who was already drooling.

“Ow, fuck! Dude, what the fuck are you doing?” Lance jolted awake, annoyed that his deep slumber was interrupted with a rude awakening.  
“We can start boarding now, we need to hurry if you want to continue that dream of yours.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translation notes at end notes as lance starts speaking filipino here holla
> 
> also this was supposed to be out before my final exams but here we are, in the midst of my second term so next chapter will be on october?? before this starts getting intense hopefully.

_11:10 pm_

Ten minutes before the plane will actually take off.

Lance passed out into his small plane seat beside Keith, drooling once again in his neck pillow while the boy beside him looks out in the vast, black night.

The sky was clear, but there were no stars that night, which Keith didn’t like.

Usually, a sky like this would be a great sky for stargazing but, alas, there were no sparkly bodies up there, and no pretty starry sky pictures for him.

Tourists entered the airline en mass, and the plane was nearly full. Keith watched the sea of tourists flow in as he slowly drifted to sleep, as his Red Bull fuel was running low.

_2:04 am_

Keith wakes up to an awful turbulence. His neck was aching and one of his earbuds fell off, and his phone has ran out of battery.

He looks over to Lance who was still knocked out, his white earbuds tangling around his neck. He looked oddly comfortable in his position, though.

The air conditioning inside the plane was freezing him, and he was feeling cramps coming in his legs and back and he wanted to get the powerbank on the overhang above Lance.

Maybe staying in the window seat wasn’t the best choice after all.

\--

The morning sun peeked through the small opening Keith made the early morning prior, which forced him to wake up from his uncomfortable slumber.

Beside him was Lance who was stuffing himself with airplane pancakes and coffee.

“Keith, holy fuck you should’ve been awake a few hours ago!” Lance dropped his plastic fork to focus on the half-awake boy beside him, who looks like he isn’t ready for his shenanigans.

“What the hell do you want?”

“Look!” Lance shoved a picture of his uneaten pancake that was shaped like a bear head. “It’s so fucking cute, dude! I’m sending a picture to the others once we arrive!!”

His raw joy over a bear-shaped pancake boggles Keith’s mind.

“Where’s my pancake?”

“...”

“That was my fucking pancake, isn’t it?”

“OKAY LOOK.” Lance drops his plastic fork once again.

“It’s still with me.” He brings out a purple plastic container. “I was already awake when the stewardess gave the pancakes, and I took a peek inside your container and I just _needed_ it.”

Keith looked at Lance like he was ready to bash his head onto the small airplane table.

“At least, I didn’t eat it! Don’t look at me like that!”

A few more hours, Keith, a few more hours of enduring Lance's bullshit and muffled Gwen Stefani music that’s blasting from Lance’s earphones.

Seriously, how does the guy manage to not blow his ears off?

Keith’s butt and legs were acting up, and he was aching to walk around more than the short walk to the airplane bathroom that was as cramped as his seat right now.

He’s been playing the same bootleg Tetris game since he woke up and Lance didn’t seem like he was getting tired of airplane peanuts, awful bootleg games and Hollaback Girl any time soon.

“Hey.” the boy beside him muttered ever so seriously, that it startled Keith a bit.

“I just wanna apologize.” he continued. Now, Keith’s full attention was snatched.

“Apologize for what? You haven’t costed me any limbs.”

“No, it’s not like that, dumbass.” Lance’s eyes drifted back to his peanuts. “Weeell, maybe in the future, it might happen, BUT.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but his attention hasn’t been cut short by Lance’s banter.

“I wanted to apologize for..” Lance paused, it seems that this is taking him a lot to say. “Apologize for?” Keith sounds like he’s enjoying this a lot.

Maybe he’s gonna apologize for being a big asshat. Maybe about the pancake? How about the time where he ruined his perfect no-tardy record because Lance wanted to buy Subway sandwiches for lunch? There are a lot of things Keith wanted apologies for.

“I wanted to apologize in advance for my family.”

And this is not one of those many things.

“What?” Keith’s eyes bled confusion, he was expecting Lance to sputter out an apology about his ruined no-tardy record, not about the family he hasn’t met.

“I really, really, REALLY didn’t want to bring this up but like, I don’t know, it wouldn’t sit right with me if I didn’t say this. My family’s quite, shall we say, _interested_ with other people’s personal life and stuff so, I’ll try my best to tell them about your whole..” Lance paused, picking his words right. “..situation. Bottom line, Sorry in advance if my family crosses boundaries.”

Keith didn’t know how to respond to this so, he clucked his head to the side.

“It’s fine, I guess?” he muttered with hesitation, really unsure what to say in this awkward situation.

“Is it really?” Lance said almost jokingly, with hints of uncertainty.

Keith let out a muffled laugh, the tone the other boy used sounded hilarious.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, they can’t be that bad, right?”

\--

The plane lands in the humid land of the Philippines at 1:40 am, and Keith’s exhausted because he decided to stay up and take pretty shots of the city lights while the plane was above ground.

He wakes Lance up from another slobbery nap, and the two exit the freezing plane, until ten minutes into the airport with minimal air conditioning, Keith could feel sweat beads falling behind his neck.

Lance wasn’t kidding with the humid weather this country had when he warned him before passing out.

After following airport protocols, Lance unlocked his phone to contact his older sister, Lucia, to pick the both of them up from the airport, while Keith was in charge of getting their luggage.

He managed to find their red and blue suitcases but, he’s having a hard time distinguishing the black, rectangular suitcase, even with the only hint Lance gave him was that it had an obnoxious, neon green, glow in the dark tag, where he got from Nickelodeon when they were still in their slime phase, stuck to the side.

“Lucia, nandito na kami.” Overhearing Lance speak in his native language sounds so weird and foreign to Keith’s ears. It sounded natural for him, which sounds weird as Keith has never witnessed him speak Filipino, always saying that he isn’t good or that he had a weird accent.

“Kinukuha lang namin yung bagahe namin, nandiyan ka na ba?”

Snapping out from the trance he was in, he spotted a suitcase with a neon green tag in his peripherals and grabbed it from the revolving belt.

“Sige, papunta na kami diyan. Saan ulit?” He turns towards the supposed exit. “Silver Adventurer? Sige, okay. Bye-bye.” He faces Keith’s semi-confused look, which made him giggle a bit.

“Weird hearing me speaking Filipino, hm?” he winked, which made the other one squirm. “What did you two talk about?”

“Lucia’s already here and she’s beside her ever-precious Silver Adventurer, and she’s gonna drive us to our home.” He points to a flooded parking lot filled to the brim with taxis and private cars alike. “Traffic’s bad, and we live quite far so, might take a while.”

Upon exiting the airport, Keith was hit with a warm breeze of damp air mixed with car smoke, he can tell that he’s gonna have his hair up all the time.

In his peripherals, he saw a girl swoop over Lance, tipping both of them over, making them fall towards Keith, which in turn also make him tip over but he held his balance.

“Laaance, namiss kitaa!!” she squealed with joy.

Keith looked down at the two figures entangled in a hearty hug. Already, he felt the uneasy sensation in his stomach, the feeling he gets when he visits his last pair of foster parents during Christmas. The feeling of standing in front of class every first day of classes, not knowing what to say.

The feeling of being disconnected.

He looks away from the two, inching away a bit while the two help themselves to regain balance.

Keith looked over towards the two, noticing the warm aura Lucia gave off, she was very beautiful despite the small, visible scar across her cheek, starting under the waterline of her eye down until the tip of her lips.

Her long, wavy, black hair tied into a loose braid flowed down her white maxi dress, reaching until just below her shoulder blades, small clumps of hair being pinned up with a white flower pin. Her brown eyes showing their glow against the lights flashing through the glass windows of the airport.

Her appearance was just like how Lance described her, more specifically, “a petite beauty”.

“You’ve grown taller since I last saw you.” she muttered to Lance, ruffling his hair with a bit of difficulty seeing as she was just at his shoulder.

Her eyes drifted towards Keith who was busy strolling his red suitcase back and forth, waiting for the two.

“Jhowa mo?” she snickered, pointing at Keith. Although unnoticeable under his sun-kissed skin, Lance felt his cheeks heat up.

"Oo, diba pangit taste ko?" He laughed, masking how flustered he was feeling.

"Lucia, this," he pulled him closer to his side. "Is Giang Keith Nguyen. He's my friend from uni.” Lance then shuffled behind his sister.

“Keith, meet the most beautiful, most stunning, most elegant woman in my life, my lovely older sister, Lucia del Rosario.” he proclaims with a proud tone complimented with his signature shit-eating grin.

“Hi, nice to meet you, Keith.” Lucia beamed, stretching out her hand. Keith did the same, giving a gentle shake. “Nice to meet you too.”

Lucia smiles a sly smile at Keith, and he could see where Lance got his cocky smile from.

“You’re a shy type, aren’t you?” she whispers to him, tiptoeing a bit to reach his ears. “Lance isn’t really into that type of guy unless you’re really kin--”

“Okay, okay!” Lance sneers and pulls Lucia away from Keith, whose cheek were plenty red yet, Keith still didn’t notice. Lucia did, however and she got a big kick out of it.

“We don’t need kink talk so early in the morning, and _literally_ the first day you meet Keith.”

“Anyways, put your stuff in the back, I’ll go start the car. I’m sure Karla and Kiko are dying to see you two tomorrow morning.” Lucia jumps into the driver’s seat and started up the car.

“Is Karla and Kiko your younger siblings?” Keith whispered to Lance, whilst loading their luggage at the back.

“Of course.” Lance smirked a shady grin. “And they are looking forward playing with you.” he winked once again and in turn, received a good slap at the back from Keith.

After helping Lance carry his big suitcase at the back, Keith removed his jacket, and used one of the sleeves to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

“Too humid for you?”

“You weren’t kidding with this goddamn heat. Is it really this hot even if it’s like, really early morning?” Keith looked over to Lance still wearing his hoodie.

“Aren’t you feeling warm in that jacket?”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “It’s so fucking cold, are you kidding me? Plus, Lucia likes her car to be as cold as the plane we were on so I’d rather keep this on, thanks.”

Keith simply raised his eyebrows, weirded out that Lance found 80 degrees cold. Lance must’ve noticed it and muttered silently, “It can reach until 107 degrees here you know.”

“Hey, get on now! I’m super tired waiting for you two, you know! You can continue your flirting inside the car or at the house.” Lucia called from the inside of her car, which earned a grunt from Lance.

“It’s 2:05 am, and we’ll probably get home at 3 or 4 am. Get comfortable now, it’s gonna be a long trip.” Lucia adjusted her rear-view mirror and sneaks a look at Keith at the back with Lance’s backpack, as Lance decides to hit shotgun.

“You okay back there?” Lucia laughed as she started driving outside the crowded road of the airport.

“Um, y-yeah!” Keith stuttered out awkwardly. “Forgive Keith over there, he’s an awkward duck.” Lance couldn’t contain his laughter in between those words, which made Lucia laugh similarly as well. “Di naman! He’s just not used to being around Filipinos. If anything, you are his first impression.”

“What a bad first impression that is.” Keith whispered.

“Fuck you, Keith.” Lance hisses out of spite.

Minutes after that conversation, Lucia started talking about her fiancé, Crisanto Salazar and their adventures, and similar misadventures and travels. Lance drifted back to sleep, so Lucia was just talking to Keith at this point, but he didn’t mind. He found Lucia to be quite charming.

“So, seeing as Lance fell asleep here, how’s he at school?” Lucia peered through the rear-view mirror with a half-curious, half-mischievous gaze.

“Hellish, loud, annoying, unreliable.” Keith grunted. “He costed me a clean no-tardy record and plenty of ink bottles for printing.” Recounting all the things Lance did was draining, but he continued.

“He’s charged into my dorm, plenty of times in ungodly hours asking for me to print his projects, asked to “borrow” money for lunch or maybe for school supplies, he’s interrupted me during classes, asking for tens of thousands of ballpens and pencils and never giving them back.” Keith stops to take a breath and calm down.

“Basically, he’s a pain in the ass.”

“So, he’s basically the polar opposite of you?” Lucia grinned. “You’re the calm, collected, shy, quiet type?” she lets out a small burst of laughter. “You too would make a GREAT couple.”

Keith sighs and leans on the leather seat.

“One, he’s definitely not my type. Two, I wouldn’t last a day.”

“You two cancel each other out though! It’s essential in a relationship for me. Cancelling your weaknesses can bring your strengths out.” she exclaims, tapping on the driver’s wheels with her French tip nails.

“Lance seems like he’d be so into you.” she mutters.

“If he is, he has bad taste.”

\--

“We’re here! Wake up, Lance!” Lucia parked her car in the curb across a big two-story suburb house. Keith exited the car and didn’t really glanced at the house. Most of his foster homes were almost like it.

Lance exited the car with bright glee and made his way to the back where he saw Keith already done bringing down the luggage.

“You waste no time, now do you?”

Lance grabbed his stuff and followed Lucia opening the garage door, Keith took the time to observe the greenery around the place.

It was well-kept, with lush green bushes of santan flowers and hanged pots with orchids growing. The grass showed no signs of wilting, as they didn’t carry brown tips. Surely, they were being properly taken care of.

He followed Lance, who ushered him to walk quietly inside the house.

Inside, the house was dark, only illuminated with a single, yellow light placed above the island countertop. The house was silent, the only noise being the creaky doors and luggage wheels rolling on the matte tile.

“You two stay upstairs. We’ve readied beds for the both of you. Unless you two can’t sleep, then I’ll start preparing breakfast. Also, you two should start unpacking before our family starts planning trips around here.”

Keith and Lance, with their combined effort, brought up their luggage, with Lucia’s eyes piercing their backs, making sure that the luggage wheels will not hit the freshly vacuumed, gray carpeted stairs.

Once Lance manages to open the door to the room, he dropped his luggage on the floor in front of two white doors adorned in black marker doodles and handwritten height charts.

Keith did something similar, but instead of haphazardly dropping it where it could’ve been a trip hazard, he leaned it against a wall and started unpacking as how Lucia advised.

“You really don’t want to rest? Is your blood made up of caffeine or something?” Lance groggily asked, yawning in between his words.

“Let’s just say if I don’t sleep in time, I don’t sleep at all. So, might as well do something productive, It might tire me out.”

Silence takes over the room as Lance drops down on one of the five bean bags, more specifically the yellow bean bag, which had a visible stain on it.

“Are you fond of kids?” Lance murmured. “Nope, not once, will never be fond of them.” Keith said, with no hesitation or any hints of sugar coating.

“Don’t you have, like, siblings with your foster family?”

“Nope, only pairs of parents.”

“Sad life.”

“Not really.” Keith stopped. “Actually no, it was quite boring.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Lance cooed, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“ _You’re_ unfortunate.” Keith shot back. “Where do I keep my stuff?”

“Just at that closet, the one with more flower scribbles on the door.”

“Why are there flower scribbles on this pure white door?”

“Blame it on Karla. She had a “doodle-on-everything” phase. It was horrendous.”

This kind of mindless banter was Keith’s favorite type of conversation to have with Lance. He hoped that this was their conversation every time they spoke and not fighting over petty stuff.

Thinking over about mindless banter and the different types of petty arguments he’s had with the others, like how they had an argument over how cornflakes was better than coco flakes, or whether Worick Archangelo’s hair was dirty white or dirty blonde (which ended in a blocking fiesta on Twitter.), or the countless days of empty teasing wherein Lance _strongly_ attempts to offend Keith in the most trite way possible, which either ends up with him slapping the shit out of Lance or him trying to ignore him as he’s just embarrassing.

Keith’s life just went from absolutely chill to hellishly chaotic, in a span of two years being in a group with four other different personality types.

He wasn’t complaining about the sudden shift of tone, he just wanted days back from his very chill life of eating lunch with Shiro in a quiet environment, watching old films or maybe quiet afternoons inside his own dorm room, typing very sappy poetry or maybe painting pretty pastel flowers with watercolors, or spending the day indulging in fine literature.

“But, hey.” Keith thinks to himself, finally done unpacking all his clothes and toiletries, he looks over to Lance, who’s once again knocked the hell out in a uncomfortable looking position on his bean bag.

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translation notes:  
> "Lucia, nandito na kami." - Lucia, we're here already.  
> “Kinukuha lang namin yung bagahe namin, nandiyan ka na ba?” - We're just getting our luggage, are you there already?  
> “Sige, papunta na kami diyan. Saan ulit?” - Alright, we're going there now. Where again?  
> (Sige is a term for affirmation, can be translated to okay, alright, etc.)  
> “Laaance, namiss kitaa!!” - Lance! I missed you! (kitaa : youu)  
> “Jhowa mo?” - Your girlfriend/boyfriend? (in this context, boyfriend; Jhowa/Jowa is a slang term for a romantic partner)  
> "Oo, diba pangit taste ko?" - "Yeah, I have bad taste, right?"  
> “Di naman!" - Not really! (most accurate but not exact)  
> (also all those dumb arguments i placed there are actual arguments my friends and i had, we're the pettiest group in our school i know)


End file.
